In the Middle of NOWHERE
by Iguanaphobia
Summary: Garfield Logan has spent his whole life in Africa. With no parents or living relatives left Gar smuggles himself into the United States. Quickly he finds himself in the clutches of the organisation N.O.W.E.R.E. What will it take to escape? And how long will Gar be able to evade them until his past takes it's revenge.
1. Welcome to the Titans

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.

* * *

Garfield Logan's perspective

Gar was not a city kid. Being born and raised in the forests of Africa he was used to seeing trees the size of buildings, rivers as long as highways and wild animals as plentiful as cars during rush hour.

The only thing that could make Gar more out of place in Jump city was Green skin, elvish ears and an unconscious girl slung over his shoulder.

Too bad for Gar, he had all the above. Perfect.

Gar growled as tourists took pictures of the strange boy and his unconscious friend like they were a pair of elephants that had escaped from the zoo and were now baking waffles.

"Back off!" Gar yelled to no avail.

Gar realised that if he didn't get out of here fast the cops would be drawn to the crowd.

Moving quickly, Gar went through the painful process of growing his bones, moving and changing his organs and even his brain, until he stood twelve feet high as a fully grown elephant.

As the crowd panicked Gar moved his trunk onto his back grabbing his unconscious friend and flung her limp body as far as he could skywards.

Gar followed after her, rapidly shrinking down and hollowing his bones until he became a large bird-specifically a falcon.

Gar then flew onto the nearest roof and caught his friend with his newly restored human limbs.

"Don't bother waking up, now." Gar said as he once again placed the girl over his shoulder and returned to his previous task of finding a hospital. "It's not like you owe me or anything."

"I don't," a weak voice said. "I told you to leave me."

"I don't care what you helped them do to me, I don't leave people to die, not even you." Gar said.

"...I don't deserve this." The girl replied.

"Stop being so hard on yourself," Gar replied, "you are just as much a victim as I am..."

Two years ago.

Gar hated many things about himself: his green skin that marked him an outcast, his animal instincts that tried to lead him away from a vegetarian lifestyle.

But there was one thing about Gar loved about himself. His powers. Gar loved the wind sliding against his face as he flew as a bird, or gliding along a current as a fish, to feel the ground beneath his feet as he ran as a cheetah, and the weightlessness feeling while swing from vines as a chimpanzee and so on.

Because of this, Garfield Logan considered his new home hell. There was no room for flying, no streams to swim in, not enough space to run, and no vines to swing from. There was only labs and enclosed cells.

His captors convinced him that this was for his own good. That his molecules were unstable and they needed to be repaired.

There was little Gar learned from his late father about genetics. But Gar could tell that the scientists were performing the same tests his uncle did on him-not what his father used to perform.

They were trying to duplicate his genes, not repair them.

Gar knew little other than pain and animal instincts. But Gar knew if these people got what they wanted from him, it would not end well.

Gar knew, he had to escape. Unfortunately N.O.W.H.E.R.E. had made sure Gar had no idea where he was.

Ha, irony.

Gar had long realised one must see humor in everything if one wanted to leave this place sane.

A girl's voice interrupted Gar's thoughts before he could continue to analyze the situation "Do you mind toning down the happy go lucky mood, you are ruining my relaxation time."

The girl's tone was one void of emotion and laced with dark sarcasm. Gar found it almost unbearable.

"Why? You got a problem with me?" Gar asked, trying to sound as macho as possible. Gar may have only been here a week, but he figured that being the wimpy new kid in a building full of super-powered jerks was not pleasant.

"You can tone down the testosterone levels, Rambo. It was just getting hard to concentrate with your good mood canceling out my... brooding." The girl said.

Gar turned his head and finally came face to face with his conversationalist. Quickly studying her Gar noticed that-besides her grey skin and blue cloak, she would look like any other gorgeous girl in the city. She was definitely out of place here.

Studying her more detailedly Gar soon came to a conclusion; "You're Raven, Aren't you? The Empath."

Raven raised an eyebrow at his comment and replied "Yeah, how did you know?"

"The boss man told me I would be put onto a team soon. Seeing as how teams are only three people, you are the only girl one mine and this is our team's designated living area... I had a fairly well informed guess."

"Right," Raven replied in a monotone, "How did you get in here anyway? The management told me that you were moving here after your training was complete."

"By the time I was ten I had fought Lions, found myself vegetarian food in the wilderness of Africa, and finally snuck into the United States." Gar said, proudly. "Training took less time than the feds thought."

"Well... congratulations, welcome to the Titans. The kitchen is fully stocked, training is every day from three to six and the bathroom is right there." Raven said, pointing out the various facilities.

"There isn't much to this place is there?" Gar asked.

"No, as long as you keep your school girl happiness levels down you'll fit right in. There is just one thing you need to know about the Titans." Raven said.

Gar asked "What is it?"

"You go in my room you'll find you head detached from your body and lost somewhere in another dimension, Clear?" Raven said, glaring at her green compatirate.

"You're just a boatload of fun, aintcha?" Gar smirked.

"Don't worry, rookie." A voice said from behind Gar. "She'll warm up to you... eventually."

Gar nearly fell of the couch he was sitting on as he screamed. "Waaah!"

"Damn it, X." Raven groaned. "I wanted to do that."

"Is anyone here not a jerk?" Gar asked as he rearranged himself so he was no longer half off the couch.

"Sorry, kid." The man Raven had referred to as X said. "Old habit."

"You see, our leader here was trained by the great and powerful leader of N.O.W.H.E.R.E." Raven praised sarcastically.

"The names, X... Red-X," The boy said, "Welcome to N.O.W.H.E.R.E."

* * *

Hello.

It is summer so I decided to place something up that I can actually finish.  
**NOTE:**

1. This story will be about three chapters long.

2. this will be based of some of DC's new 52.

3. this will also be based off Marvel comic's character Amadeus Cho.

Allright, reviews would be nice.

Summer is better.

Enjoy it while it lasts.


	2. Storms

**Disclaimer: I Don't own Teen Titans, the Show, Comics or any other incarnation and references I may use ,they all belong to their respected companies.**

* * *

Gar used to love the rain. When Gar was a kid he would play for hours in the rain, only retreating inside when his face was numb from the cold and he was laughing so hard that he couldn't breathe.

Then Gar had to grow up far too fast and he found himself hating the rain more than anything in existence. When Gar was five he and his parents went on a boat ride. In fact, it was the last boat ride his parents ever took.

The only thing that Gar remembered about that day is that even though the rain was so cold it numbed his skin he couldn't stop crying in pain.

So it is fitting that cold rain droplets run down Gar's arms and legs as he runs for the life of his best friend. Gar had known her for two years, and seeing as how they spent half of that time in each other's presence they had grown fairly close.

Although, it hadn't started out that way, for the majority of the first year they were more enemies than allies. Constant criticizing and fighting only stopped after they understood each other, Gar remembered the first time they had a true understanding of each other.

*Two year ago*

"Watch your flank, WATCH YOUR FLANK!" Gar screamed in terror.

"One, Stop yelling, I'm going to get a headache." X said holding his ears in pain. "Two, you are supposed to be covering me while I take out their mothership!"

"Woo. Teamwork." Raven said so merrily that if you listen closely you would tell that... there was absolutely no enjoyment reflected in her tone.

"SHH!" Gar hissed as his ship spiraled towards the planet below.

"Gar, where the hell are you!? There's too many for me to fight alone!" X said as his battle damaged spacecraft was assaulted from all angles.

"Their leader ambushed me in the Vega system." Gar replied. "I can't shake him; he's too fast!"

"There is a poorly edited minefield ahead of you." Raven said without looking up from her book.

"Raven, this is no time for you to critique Space Trek Battlefront!" Gar groaned as he frantically tried to lose the gigantic spacecraft bearing down on his smaller vehicle.

"As entertaining as that is, I meant that you could lose the... space-plane in the chaos and then save our fearless leader." Raven said.

"YES, PLEASE!" X pathetically pleaded as his craft struggled to stay in flight.

"Right, I'm going in." Gar said dramatically.

Raven raised an eyebrow as Gar flung the controller as he moved his spaceship. "You realise that moving your controller doesn't actually move your... space-mobile." Raven mentioned.

"...acknowledged." Gar replied, bloodshot eyes glued on the television set.

Raven smirked as Gar's nimble green ship gracefully flew through the minefield.

Like Raven predicted it took much longer for Gar's attacker to maneuver through the minefield and the giant spacecraft was still halfway into the minefield when Gar escaped.

"...Take him down." Raven maniacally ordered.

Gar grinned as he opened fire on his target. Every laser cannon on Gar's spaceship fired mercilessly at the titanic space shuttle still slowly maneuvering through the minefield.

In a matter of seconds the enemy vessel was torn apart by blaster fire and mines.

"YEAH BABY! Thats how the Titans do!" Gar cheered.

"Good job, Gar." X said. "now HELP!"

"On it." Gar said, opening all engines to full capacity and slamming into three enemy fighters that were swarming X's battle damaged vessel.

"I knew ramming shields would come in handy." Gar rejoiced as he tore apart ship after ship.

"Less gloating, more firing!" X said as he reduced two more enemy fighters to slag.

"I think we've cleared enough breathing space, you still got the bomb?" Gar asked.

"Please. You do remember who I am, right?" X said.

"A man who spent ten minutes pleading like a child to be rescued from a fictional event." Raven answered.

"Hey, that is mutiny." X stated.

"Just destroy the moon base, I'll cover you." Gar ordered as his ramming shields formed around his ship.

"Alright, lets end this." X said as his ship flew towards the colossal moon base that was releasing swarms of enemy ships.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Raven said.

"Not now Raven!" Gar said as his ship spearheaded through the secondary base. "Their defences are down, X. Fire now!"

"Firing." X said as his vessel shot an small bomb that slowly increased speed towards the moon base.

"...It's not going to make it!" Gar realised as several enemy pilots started targeting the small bomb.

"It's going to make it, but we won't if we don't get out of the blast radius." X ordered.

"But-"

Before Gar could continue the bomb began to pick up speed.

"The bomb is being pulled by gravity, we only have seconds to get out of here." X explained.

"Right. Garbot, get us out of here." Gar said.

"Acknowledged, opening up all engines to full power." Gar's ship computer replied.

"Please tell me you didn't name your ship's computer Garbot." Raven groaned.

"SHHH! You're messing up the voice recognition!" Gar complained.

"I still think you are going to blow up..." Raven muttered.

"We're far enough, I'm activating the bomb." X warned.

"5...4...3...2...1...KATATAKATOOOOM!"

The moonbase soon turned to rubble, destroying all remaining enemy ships who were previously attempting to destroy the bomb.

"Another victory for the Titans!" X proclaimed triumphantly.

"Yeah, high five!" Gar raised his hand.

"...Um, Gar." X said "I'm still in Shanghai, remember?"

Gar deflated as he looked at Red-X... or rather at X's skype window on Raven's Laptop. "Oh, right."

"Don't be so upset, Gar. This mission shouldn't last too much longer" X stated.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just getting bored. It's been raining for weeks so all our targets are staying inside! There is nothing to do here!" Gar said.

"You could always read a book." Raven suggested.

"Yeah, he could...OR, we could play another round of Space Trek Battlefront!" X countered.

"Hell yeah! Watch out, Empire, here we-"

*zzzzneeroumumph*

Just as Gar was about to continue his game the television set turns off with a loud popping sound. As the television is slowly roasted Raven's Laptop surges with electricity.

Raven didn't notice this, however until Gar exclaimed "Watch out!"

Turning into a monkey Gar tore the power cord out of Raven's laptop and through it into the kitchen

"What the heck, Gar!" Raven exclaimed.

But before Gar could receive any major injuries a small explosion took place in the kitchen.

"I think your laptop is toast... Heh." Gar rubbed the back of his head, guilty.

"It's not your fault. "Raven grumbled. "Everything plugged into an electrical socket was just short-circuited."

"Do you think we're under attack?" Gar asked cautiously.

"If you didn't notice it's thunder storming outside." Raven stated.

Gar's stomach turned at the memories that brought up, but he continued on to ask "What does that have to do with anything?"

"N.O.W.H.E.R.E is powered by meta humans with electric powers, if one were to get hit by lighting... well, we saw what happened." Raven said

"Do you mean..."

"Yeah," Raven interrupted "N.O.W.H.E.R.E's going to need a new power source."

Gar shuddered as he asked "Do you think they're all... you know..."

"Dead? Maybe, how should I know?" Raven asked.

"I don't know, you just usually know... well, everything!" Gar exclaimed.

"Umm, Thanks..." Raven awkwardly said. Raven didn't receive many positive comments and receiving one from Gar made her blush, despite the circumstances.

"So... do you want to play a boardgame?" Gar asked.

"Seriously?" Raven replied. "Now?"

Gar shrugged "I have a short attention span."

"I'm kind of in the middle of my book." Raven sighed.

"Oh..." Gar slouched at Raven's response.

*Katoom*

Gar's whole body shuddered as the windows were illuminated by the lightning strike.

"Heh, heh... that was...kinda loud." Gar covered his deep fear with laughter.

It did not work.

"Don't worry, we're safe inside." Raven stated.

"WORRIED! What- pshhh. ME?! No way! Get out of here!" Gar exclaimed.

"I'm an empath, remember?" Raven reminded Gar. "And right now you're so panicked I can't concentrate on my book."

"Umm... Sorry." Gar apologized.

"You don't need to apologize." Raven said. "But the rest of the day might be more pleasant if I counsel you."

"... sure." Gar reluctantly said.

"Very well..." Raven put got up from the couch and knelt beside Gar.

"...There, there" Raven patted Gar's shoulder "the likelihood of our deaths occurring during this lightning storm are... low."

"You are so bad at this." Gar smirked.

Raven playfully punched his shoulder "Shut up, I'm a warrior, not a therapist."

"Well... I appreciate it, thanks." Gar smiled.

Raven stood up "I'm going to make dinner, what do you-"

"Erm, why don't I cook?" Gar said and raced into the kitchen before Raven could reply.

"Is my cooking really that bad?" Raven asked.

"In a word: yes." Gar replied.

Raven cucked at Gar.

Gar stuck his head out of the kitchen door. "Did you just laugh?"

Raven quickly returned to her previous demineur. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You laughed! I totally made you laugh!" Gar exclaimed triumphantly.

"You're mistaken" Raven growled.

"I heard you!" Gar said.

"You heard wrong." Raven said.

Gar crossed his arms "Did not!"

"I DON"T LAUGH!" Raven yelled at Gar.

As Raven yelled dark tendrils escaped from her cape destroying and singing parts of the floor, roof, walls and couch Raven was in front of.

"Holly shit! Raven, are you okay?" Gar asked.

"...I'm going to meditate. Do not disturb me." Raven turned and quickly walked away.

If it was anyone but Gar they wouldn't have noticed anything, but Gar's animal senses revealed Raven was shaking and there was a single tear running down the side of her face.

* * *

*Knock Knock*

"Hey Raven... I made you some soup." Gar stood outside Raven's door with a tray in one hand while the other hovered over the handle.

"Go away." Raven said.

"Look. I... I just wanted to apologize about earlier, I wasn't making fun of you or anything. I was just... surprised." Gar explained

"It... wasn't your fault." Raven replied. "I overreacted."

"And tore apart the room pretty good too." Gar laughed.

There was no reply from Raven other than a small, almost non-existent whimper.

"Raven?" Gar said.

"We have reconciled, why are you still here?" Raven bluntly asked.

"I'm just worried about you..." Gar said.

"There is nothing to worry about. I'm fine. Please leave." Raven said.

"Come on Raven, how stupid do you think I am?" Gar said. "I know something is wrong and I'm not leaving until you come out here and talk to me."

"JUST GO AWAY!" Raven yelled.

More dark tendrils returned tearing raven's door-and the wall attached to it- apart causing Gar to dump the soup all over the floor.

"Raven!?" Gar called, looking through the rubble that was previously raven's wall.

The room was dark and basic, just several burnt bookshelves and half a mattress on a smoldering bed frame. Small puddles of water were beginning to form under the wholes of Raven's wall that previously separated her from the lightning storm outside.

"Raven are you okay?" Gar asked looking around for his friend.

*KACKATOOM*

Gar flinched as another lightning strike light up Raven's bedroom.

The silence after a lightning strike was almost always absolute, this time the silence was broken by soft weeping.

Gar followed the sound until he found Raven curled up in a ball in the corner of her room, water drenched her cloak as she shook ferociously.

Wasting no time Gar picked Raven up, despite her kicking, and carried her to her half destroyed mattress

"Raven, are you okay?" Gar asked as her set her down.

"...this isn't my fault." Raven said, almost pleading.

"It's fine, I don't blame you-"

"I don't want your pity I want you to listen!" Raven scolded. "I don't always control my powers... My father is Trygon, the incarnation of millions of ill souls. I channel his energy through me, and when show too much human emotion..."

Raven motioned to her room.

"That is why you were so upset when I heard you laugh..." Gar pieced together.

Raven just nodded.

"...For the record," Gar said, "you have a beautiful laugh."

Raven's blush would have been fierce, if her face wasn't numb from cold.

"...Thank you." Raven said.

"I'm just doing what anyone would do." Gar replied.

Raven gently moved Gar's face so their eyes met. "No, not anyone would continuously try to help a half demon who almost killed them several times."

Raven lightly wrapped her arms around Gar's chest. "Thank you for being my friend, no matter what."

Gar smiled and hugged her tighter. "No problem."

Raven rested her head on Gar's stomach. "By the way, if you tell anyone about this you'll be sent straight to limbo."

Gar laughed, completely terrified and for once it wasn't because of the storm.

They fell asleep, crouched behind a torn mattress as puddles of rain dominated Raven's floor, completely at peace.

* * *

Hello writers.

...yeah, I haven't really done anything for a few months... sorry about that.

BUT know this: I vow to update much more often.

If I don't have two new chapters by next Saturday you have permission to beat my virtual brain in, until then...

See you later...


	3. Targets

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.

* * *

Garfield Logan's perspective:

Gar had no idea where he was going.

While reminiscing on the run with raven on Gar's back and the government on his tail, he had forgot to ask for directions.

As if reading Gar's mind, a half conscious Raven asked "You have no idea where you are going, do you?"

"Shut up!" Gar said, "I hate cities, I can never find my way around them."

"Take a left at the next intersection." Raven said.

"How do you know where the hospital is?" Gar asked, surprised by Raven's sudden knowledge.

Raven replied, "we had a mission here once, remember?"

*One Year, Six Months Ago*

"-And that is how I found out which side of the Rhino you should never eat off of." Gar finished.

"No freaking way you did that!" X exclaimed while he looked through binoculars at the streets of jump city eyes mostly wondering from girl to girl.

"You guys are disgusting." Raven commented in her usual monotone.

"Disgusting, and educational." Gar corrected, earning a smack on his head.

It took only two week for Gar to assume the role of class clown. Which is fairly impressive seeing how Gar's whole team spent day and night completing papers for every course their team was taking- they were in fact taking every class.

It took months though for Gar to be placed out in the field. N.O.W.H.E.R.E believes they have relinquished all of Gar's hope for escape. The only thing that keep Gar from freedom at the moment is the bomb placed in his neck. N.O.W.H.E.R.E believes this taste of freedom will convince Gar that life in N.O.W.H.E.R.E is really not that bad.

Unfortunately for N.O.W.H.E.R.E , they have underestimated how much Gar can complain. This taste of freedom only makes Gar yearn for more.

"There!" Red-X said, pointing to the streets below.

Gar and raven followed his gaze until their eyes fell on a young teenage girl.

"You think that's our target?" Raven asked.

"Oh, she's a target alright." X said suggestively.

"Well? Let's get her!" Raven said, moving from the roof.

Red-X grabbed the hood of Raven's cloak and dragged his impatient teammate back on the roof. "If you go in all ghost shit on her we'll be chasing her for hours, I'll take this." X said.

"Well... okay, I guess." Raven said uncertainly, sitting down cross legged on the cold cement roof.

X gave them a wink before diving off the skyscraper.

"Unbelievable." Gar sighed.

"What?" Raven asked.

"I can't believe you let him do that!" Gar complained. "Whenever I want to go get a snack or stretch my legs on a mission you say I'll compromise our position. But if X wants to get it in with some girl noooooooo it's fine."

"What are you talking about?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on Rae? You seriously don't know what he's doing?" Gar asked.

"He's convincing a superpowered girl to follow him to a government safe house for metahumans. Yeah she probably think he's crazy, but-"

"Raven, this is our target." Gar handed Raven a photograph of a young african american teenage boy.

"Then why is X talking to that girl?" Raven asked.

"Come ON! He's going to hit on her, maybe make out with her for a few seconds if he's lucky." Gar said. "You can't seriously be this oblivious."

"I am not oblivious," Raven said glaring at Gar, "I just don't see why X would waste time on a girl completely unrelated to the mission."

"Well, she is pretty," Gar said looking down to the girl X had just "accidentally bumped into".

"What does that have to do with anything?" Raven asked, irritated.

"Come on, Raven he's a charismatic bad boy who no one can get. It's in X's job description to hit on hot girls." Gar said.

"I don't understand," Raven said, "why does he feel the need to do so?"

"I don't know..." Gar said "It's just his nature, I guess."

"I still don't understand." Raven said, hating the feeling of being oblivious. "We work for N.O.W.H.E.R.E our nature is to follow orders."

"... Raven, how long have you been in N.O.W.H.E.R.E?" Gar asked.

"My mother was placed in the program at when she was still pregnant with me, I've lived there my entire life." Raven replied.

Gar's heart ached as he asked "So, when you say you don't get it..."

"I have never had the same desire." Raven replied emotionlessly.

"Come on!" Gar exclaimed. "You never had a crush on anyone?"

"No." Raven replied blankly.

"I bet you have, you just don't know it." Beast Boy said.

"I keep all of my emotions under control, I can't allow myself to get 'crushes'." Raven replied.

Gar raised an eyebrow "You mean to tell me you have never wanted to be around someone more than other people. You never met someone who made your hair stand on end whenever they walk by? Someone who made you shiver every time your eyes meet? Someone who brightens your day by just saying hi? Someone that just makes you feel happy inside!?"

"Well..." Raven said her cheeks turning warmer and reder just by looking at Gar, "... I think... you make me feel like that... a lot, actually."

Gar froze at her comment, schock destroying every other useful part of his brain.

Finally Gar lamely replied "...Oh..."

Then the bank exploded.

"Gar, Raven!" X's voice stung their ears as his started voice came over their com-system.

"Yeah, we hear you." Raven said, forgetting about their previous conversation and focusing on the matter at hand. "What happened?"

"I think I found our real target... oh, and The kid can control fire!" X replied. "Get down here, this is going to be a long day."

"Right." Raven said closing her communicator.

"Um, Raven. About before-"

"We'll talk about this later." Raven interrupted flying towards the mayhem.

"Right," Gar said glumly, "Later."

*Present*

"The only thing I remember about that mission is that the kid we were chasing was terrified." Gar said.

"He was a threat." Raven replied.

"He was a kid! He was so terrified by us he jumped into the lake and evaporated himself." Gar said.

"Are we really having this conversation right now?" Raven asked.

"Fine. First you get some medical attention. Then we debate about morals while we wait for N.O.W.H.E.R.E to capture me again." Gar replied.

Raven sighed "I never knew it was possible for someone to be as paranoid as you are."

"You know why I have to be paranoid," Gar growled, "you helped make me like this, after all."

* * *

Hey.

Said I was going to update last week.

I didn't... sorry.

But I've uploaded this, and next time they'll be new people, and new Ideas.

And Gar's big escape is coming up, so keep posted.


	4. Escape

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.

* * *

*One year ago*

The alarm was giving Gar a headache, he was really kicking himself for not turning off the security in his quarters when he had the chance.

Gar heard someone ask "Where is he?"

"Shit," Gar whispered to himself, "it's them."

N.O.W.H.E.R.E was a complex, secretive organisation, but Gar had learned four secrets about them in his stay.

One, they were an organisation once sanctioned by the government. However, twenty years ago N.O.W.H.E.R.E erased all data on them in every computer in the world, then they went dark. No one knows who funds N.O.W.H.E.R.E or what their final goals are, only one thing is for sure, they aren't on the meta's side.

Two, the leader of N.O.W.H.E.R.E used to be a Major in the American military, until he was assigned to N.O.W.H.E.R.E twenty years ago. They say the leader of N.O.W.H.E.R.E was the first test subject, becoming a super soldier and taking over after the previous leader of N.O.W.H.E.R.E died. Literally nothing else is known about the leader of N.O.W.H.E.R.E by any person or computer Gar could find, that is how the leader got his nickname; Nobody.

Three, the only goal N.O.W.H.E.R.E seems to have is to capture, train and study metahumans.

Four, Gar's team was not the best team at N.O.W.H.E.R.E Sure, they were the highest trained in snatch and grab missions, but there were others. The Titans is a name given to N.O.W.H.E.R.E agents of the highest caliber, Gar's team were the only three Titans assigned to snatch and grab. However, there are four others whom are referred to as titans.

Speedy, Wondergirl, Aqualad, Kid Flash.

N.O.W.H.E.R.E's cleanup crew. If anyone makes a mistake, fails a mission or tries to go escape, they're called in.

Unfortunately for Gar, they had all but caught him in the middle of his escape.

"Where do you think he is?" Aqualad asked.

"The changeling is close." Wondergirl said, "I can feel his fear... directly above us, in fact."

All four titans looked up. A small green bat met their gaze.

Gar decided to run. The idea was much easier said than done.

Transforming back into his human form, landing on his feet, rolling onto his shoulder so that his legs didn't break from the fall and finally breaking into a sprint was no problem at all.

But now, Gar had arrows whizzing past him, sinks bursting open, sending geyser of water at the panicked changeling, and that was only the beginning.

The fastest way off N.O.W.H.E.R.E was by jet, so naturally Gar made his way towards the aircraft hanger. Unfortunately, the fastest way to the hanger was through the meeting room and then five stories directly down. Gar, deciding to handle the problem of descending five stories for later and made his way towards the meeting room.

Changing into a cheetah cut Gar's travel time to one hectic minute of dodging arrows, water, an angry speedster and an amazon warrior.

Seeing to doors to the boardroom made Gar's heart swell with hope. Unfortunately, this was when Kid Flash made his move. Gar took ten seconds to transform back into a human, by then Kid Flash was already in front of him fist pulled back behind his chest.

Gar's hope vanished as Kid Flash's first met his stomach. Gar's momentum sent him flying into the door to the boardroom, reaching his destination in a fetal position on the floor, blood dripping off his fang.

"Ow." Gar groaned.

"Is that all you have to say?" Speedy asked.

"Well, considering that I'm bleeding internally I'd say it summarizes my situation pretty effectively- GAH!"

Gar was silenced by Wondergirl's foot making contact with Gar's stomach.

Wondergirl spoke in a harsh tone, "do not speak to him. It's part of his tactics. He irritates and distracts you with his infernal speech, making you fight angry so he can finish you off efficiently."

"That's not quite how I'd explain it." Gar said.

"Silence traitor!" Wondergirl hissed.

Gar laughed at this comment.

"What is so amusing, changeling?" Aqualad asked.

"I am no traitor. To be a traitor I would need to work for an organisation. N.O.W.H.E.R.E is not a organisation, it is a torture system." Gar said.

Speedy lifted Gar off the floor by his collar, "we weren't sent here to debate with you. We were sent here to capture you. Now move, you're going to rot in a cell until the boss figures out what to do with you."

"Yeah," Gar's bones began to shift under Speedy's grip, "that's not going to happen."

* * *

Hello.

New chapter, Gar is about to escape nowhere.

Note, there may be something strange about the other Teen Titans, keep and eye on them.

I wasn't lazy and just wrote Robin out, he has a purpose.

So does Nobody, leader of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

Remember, this is going to be a shorter story that I may elaborate, if you want to see more of this tell me!

This story will be the past and getting Raven to a hospital.

After that it will be a very different story that I may not even do, unless you guys want it.

see you next time.


	5. Escape Part II- Leaving

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.

* * *

Humankind has always had a sadistic side. Since day one we have always possessed a hidden desire for vandalism and destruction.

Hundreds of years ago the most effective warfare was to have the biggest soldiers with the best swords. One of the most successful armys of this kind was the Persian empire.

At the apex of the Persian empire, their armies were the dominant military force throughout most of the middle east.

And yet, the Persian's greatest know battle was their greatest defeat, at the hands of the greeks.

Before the true battle even took place, seven thousand spartans stalled the vastly more numerous persian armies for three days.

They were so far outnumbered comparing the two armies was similar to comparing a war elephant to an ant. Any yet, the Greeks fought smart, and valiantly and slayed many a small army many times their size, until they were defeated by trickery.

And although they were defeated their memory lives on as does their might. Those three days proved that sometimes experience, cunning, strategy and bravery can overcome, or at least slay large quantities of, seemingly unbeatable threats.

Skip by a few millennia and now the human race has machine guns that could gun down the entire greek army in a few hours.

Humankind will and always will have a sublimable need for destruction and chaos. Since Firearms are not enough the humans create new ways of warfare.

Bombs, missiles, chemical warfare, radiation; each tactic more sinister than the it's precursor.

And now... now we have Metahumans.

*One year ago*

There is one thing about N.O.W.H.E.R.E. that makes it so different from any other sadistic black operations former government branch... one is that they are the only sadistic black operations former government branch, and the other is the isolation N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s subjects feel.

Most subjects upon arriving at N.O.W.H.E.R.E. are ruthlessly, tested, trained and tortured to the extreme every day. And on top of this they have no idea where they are, who has taken them or why. As far as the Metas know they are in the middle of nowhere... and in some ways they couldn't be more right.

Raven, however, had never felt confined in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Perhaps it is the fact that she was born and raised in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. or maybe the forcefed knowledge that she would never fit in with the quote end quote normal peoples of the world.

Whatever the reason Raven was one of the few who followed N.O.W.H.E.R.E. not because out of fear, or mutilation but because she simply did not know what else to do.

In fact, because of this, you could argue Raven was more confined by N.O.W.H.E.R.E. than any other subject.

There are many ways subjects deal with this confinement. Some, such as Red-X develope a brash, tough, exterior. Others, such as Gar, become clowns and distance themselves from reality.

And then there are those like Raven, who accept their reality and are shaped by it. Cold, indifferent, and effective these subjects quickly move up the ranks; leaving behind those who cannot come to terms with their reality and whose minds become brittle, broken and fractured.

"Hey, Raven! Wait up!" Raven internally swore and doubled her pace.

"Hey!" A hand landed firmly on her shoulder stopping Raven in her tracks.

Raven assertively shoved the hand off her shoulder "What is it Victor?"

"Aw, 'c'mon Rave, don't be so moody. I just want to talk." Victor's voice seemed partially human and partially like a broken speak and spell. "Can you at least look at me?"

Raven struggled to turn around. When it came to other subjects Raven usually either liked and respected them, or disliked the boneheads and found them intolerable.

Victor was the only subject to this day that raven has felt her own empathy towards. Sure, almost every subject or staff member of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. has a bit of empathy that catches onto Raven.

But when It came to her own emotions, the subjects either didn't deserve her empathy or require her empathy.

But Victor... Victor was not well. Despite her squeamishness Raven managed to make eye contact with her... associate.

"There, was that so difficult?" Victor's humanistic yet broken robotic voice asked.

"Unbearably." Raven muttered.

Victor Stone was alone in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. He didn't act like a clown or a boneheaded bully. Raven would like to think it was because Victor was a rational, nice man, but this was not the reason.

Victor Stone was insane. His powers were one of a kind and strangely organised.

Victor could control sonic energy and release them in sonic blasts. Also, Victor seemed to posses a degree of superhuman strength and stamina and invulnerability. And finally, he could speak and control machines a power that has now been labeled as Technopathic.

Vicor wasn't another subject, he was a super soldier. Once upon a time some said he was destined to take Nobody's place as the leader of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

But there is a huge flaw with Victor's powers, they are undefinable. He was born a supersoldier with enhanced strength, speed, invulnerability, endurance, healing, size, even intelligence.

But two years before N.O.W.H.E.R.E. found Victor he was in an accident at Star labs. The result was severe mental scarring and his sonic and technopathic powers.

Because he has both genetic powers and artificial powers it is impossible to analyze or duplicate his abilities.

N.O.W.H.E.R.E. tried fairly damn hard to break his cells, but they only further fractured his mind.

N.O.W.H.E.R.E. found their perfect soldier, but he was just out of reach and now they've broken him.

Victor has two personalities, the genius super soldier, Victor and the computer talking part of his mind that has grown so close to technology that it believes itself to be a robot.

This part of him mind has assimilated his human conscious, going so far as convincing Victory to request that N.O.W.H.E.R.E. replace part of his brain with a battery, part of his heart with a sonic energy generation, one glass blue eye with an environment analyzer, his vocal cords with a multilingual edition, and even some of his veins with electric cords that glow an eerie blue color that illuminates under his dark skin.

This assimilated, mutilated conscious calls himself Cyborg.

He is the sole person Raven feels empathy towards, and whenever he talked to her it was not for good reasons.

"I'll ask again, Victor. What do you want?" Raven asked avoiding looking at his red glass eye.

The Broken man replied in an almost threatening robotic tone "I've told you a thousand times, Raven, Call me Cyborg."

"Sorry... Cyborg." It took all of Raven's self control not to yelp out her reply.

"Good." Cyborg said, standing upright and crossing his arms. "Then I think it's time we get on topic."

Raven raised an eyebrow. "What is this about?"

Victor's expression turned stone cold and dead serious "I know what the kid is planning, just like I know you two are far too close for him not to let you in on it. And since every machine in this building is telling me the kid is going for it, I figure that you weren't able to stop him."

Raven was completely perplexed by Victor's speech but made no comment out of fear of being maimed. Cyborg has had accounts of violence before.

"There is no way the kid is going to be able to escape here without these." Cyborg took a small grey backpack off his belt. Opening it, Raven saw a small blue glowing card, a gun with glowing blue indents, goggles, a grey Kobo with glowing blue circuitry and a glowing blue ball.

"I was preparing to escape here for months before my... change." Cyborg shuddered as he handed Raven the bag. "I know I belong here, but the kid... he is the only one who has the courage and willpower to escape this place. Give him these and he will be free."

Raven was speechless until she heard a scream of pain from five stories above her.

"What in azar is happening?" Raven looked back to Victor, but he was already gone.

Seconds later there was another scream, this time from a different man. This was followed by a small figure salling out of the fifth story conference room window.

Raven's eyes grew wide with fear. "Gar?"

Wasting no time Raven flew over towards the descending body and caught the boy just meters away from the ground.

While slowing down Raven noticed the boy had blond hair. Continuing to analyze him Raven noticed he had a lack of green skin and hair. "You're not Gar."

Raven slowed and dropped the man to the floor. "Speedy?"

"Get... that... Greenskin bastard." The Speedy groaned.

Raven was now beginning to worry. He wasn't talking about Gar, was he?

Before Raven could think on this anymore a green rat scurried out of Speedy's jacket and down the hallway.

Raven swore and followed after the rat with Cyborg's bag by her side bumping against her hip as she flew.

* * *

Red-X stood in the hangar bay. X was currently having a conversation with the mechanics about his motorbike.

"No, no no! It's Red-X! Thus my bike is..."

One unfortunate mechanic took a wild guess. "Umm. Red?"

"Wrong!" Red-X spat. "My bike is black. GET. IT. RIGHT!"

This created a flurry of fearful staff moving to correct their error. "Sorry, sir. We'll fix that right now."

Red-X walked out of the main hanger in a huff. "How am I supposed to be mysterious with a bright red bike!?"

"Make way, coming through!" X raised an eyebrow as someone ran through the halls of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. pushing past anything that stood in his way... and being fairly kind to them to.

X only one subject that was that full of energy and kindness. "Gar!?"

"GAH!" As Gar sprinted around the corner he ran headfirst into X.

"Ow! You okay, man?" X stood up despite his headache and held out his hand, offering to help Gar up.

Gar took X's hand without a second thought. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"What were you up to anyway?" X asked.

Gar sweatdropped. "Uhhh..."

A shout from down the hall saved Gar from an awkward explanation. "Get out of my way before I throw you out!"

Gar and X both recognised that voice. "Raven?"

The exasperated empath made her way towards her two freinds. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to follow a miniscule animal who is almost impossible to track through a base so big that no one map can visualize it without causing it's viewer mental trauma!"

"Um... no. But one time I chased a duck... it was mean." Gar replied.

X just chucked at Gar's comment. "What are you two doing down here anyway? As far as I know we don't have a mission for another week."

"Cyborg was spurting out some nonsense about Gar leaving N.O.W.H.E.R.E." Raven replied taking a quick glance at a suddenly fearful Garfield Logan.

"Oh, come on! You can't take bolts for brains seriously! The guy's the deranged child of the terminator and Samuel L. Jackson. Except all the awesome that would come out of that turns into insanity."

"Victor looks nothing like Samuel L. Jackson." Gar muttered.

"I know he's insane, I didn't believe him for a second. But then I saw speedy fall out of the fifth story window and a small green mouse run out of his shirt." Raven looked at Gar. "You have something to tell us?"

X scoffed. "Don't be ridiculous, Raven. You're not planning anything, are you Gar?"

Gar looked at his boots and clenched his fists "I'm not leaving N.O.W.H.E.R.E."

"See." X calmly said. "You were just blowing things way out of-"

"You don't just get to leave N.O.W.H.E.R.E. No, I'm escaping. And then I'm ending it." Gar darkly stated.

Raven clenched the bag Victor had given her "Gar..."

"Are you insane!" X exclaimed. "If you leave they'll destroy you!"

Gar replied while tears began dripping out of his unsure eyes. "I'm not staying here. If you don't get out of my way I'll be forced to move you myself."

X flinched at Gar's words. "Don't be stupid, kid."

While the boys were previously occupied Raven slipped away into the hanger.

"I'm sorry, X. But you can't keep me here." Gar began to change.

"Damn it, Gar!" X's suit began to glow red.

Now a rino Gar charged at X.

Having extensive training in martial arts and acrobatics it was not hard for Red-X to jump over Gar and repel himself against a nearby wall so to land on his friend's back.

"Sorry about this, Kid." X slammed his open hand onto Gar's spine activating his Xenothium supplies and shocking Gar into his original form.

X stood over Gar's now human form that laid motionless against the floor. "It's over, Kid. Come back to if you stop now they'll still let you live."

"I'd rather fight to the last breath then be doomed to live here forever." Gar said.

"C'mon, kid. Give up allread- ulp!"

Gar changed it an orangutan and swung his massive fists into X's chest sending the masked man feet back.

Gar then changed again into a gorilla and began to charge X but was stopped by yellow and scarlet whisp of speed.

The Titans, sans Speedy, had finally caught up to Gar.

Wonder Girl's eyes narrowed. "Surrender, Beast. Or you will die."

Before a move could be made a shadow enveloped the room. The shadow moved throughout the room, but stopped under Gar rendering the floor under his feet to darkness of which Gar descended into.

"The witch has saved him!" Aqualad exclaimed.

"Don't be stupid, Minnow. There are too many employees here." X motioned to the fleeing workers. "Raven's taken this fight to the hangar."

"Fool!" Wonder Girl growled at X "That is precisely where he must not be allowed to enter. If he can subdue the witch before we get there his escape will be on her conscience."

* * *

Hello.

I messed up Cyborg.

Gar's almost out.

Is he going alone?

You'll find out.

Robin and starfire have yet to make appearances.

Speedy is blonde?

Keep watching for strange behaviour from N.O.W.H.E.R.E.'s Titans.

That is all.


	6. Escape part III- Till the End

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.

* * *

Gar fell onto the cold floor of the hangar. His whole body felt numb and tingly. "What the-"

Gar leaned into someone's touch as he was lifted off the floor. "Why are you leaving?"

"...Raven?" Gar felt a bit light headed from his transportation.

"Why are you leaving N.O.W.H.E.R.E.?" Raven repeated seating him down on a bench.

"It's not safe... Titans." Gar could piece together what was happening, but his mind was groggy.

"Don't worry." Raven said pressing her hands to my temples. "I locked the door... or for my sake let's say you did."

"Why... why are you helping me?" Gar asked, his thoughts beginning to become clearer.

Raven continued to heal him while keeping a monotonous dynamic. "We're freinds, aren't we? Freinds help each other, no matter what."

Gar broke free of Raven's hold and analyzed her. "I've fought beside you for almost a year. Half the time you ignored me and the other half you've mocked me! Sure we're freinds, but I'm... was freinds with X too. Why are you really helping me?"

Raven sighed. "I..."

Raven was interrupted with a loud clang as fists met the steel door hiding the two freinds.

Raven looked over to Gar. "There is still time. If you give up... mabey-"

"Here it comes!" Gar glared at Raven. "There is nothing you can say that will convince me to stay in this hellhole. Give up or get out of my way!"

Raven sighed. "Very well... You leave my no choice. I will not allow you to leave!"

Before Gar could make a move a shadow talon pinned him up against the wall.

Gar struggled but it was to no avail. "Raven! Let me down from here!"

Raven refused to meet his gaze and used her powers to unlock the door Wondergirl had basically rendered to pulp anyway.

"I've got him." Raven spoke shamefully as the other Titans rushed into the room.

Wondergirl stood beside Raven glaring daggers at the captive Garfield Logan. "Good work, witch."

"What are you going to do with him?" Red-X asked.

"We will do nothing." Raven relaxed at Wondergirl's words. "Nobody, however, will have fun torturing this hairball until he drops dead." Raven flinched.

"Doesn't that seem a bit extreme?" Raven asked.

Aqualad huffed. "The monster betrayed us all. Nobody is not known for his kindness, we all remember the fate of the first Titan."

Wondergirl's mood visibly darkened. "We will ring the boy's neck just as we did... Robin."

Nobody spoke. The only sound that could be heard was Gar's muffled curses.

Kid flash was the first one to break the silence. "I know we're not exactly freinds, but isn't there an unspoken agreement to never talk about him?"

"Shut up, Kid." Wondergirl glared Kid Flash down. "The boy wonder was a traitor and a fool."

I looked over at X. The usually calm and composed Titan was so visibly angered red steam was flowing out of the indents in his Xenothium powered suit.

"I enjoyed ending him." Wondergirl spit out staring right at X. I don't know how she didn't expect what came next.

Red-X launched himself at the senior Titans. "You little bitch! I'll kill you!"

I moved to help X, but was restrained by my powers. I was still holding Gar prisoner.

X had now tackled Wondergirl to the floor and was repeatedly punching her in the face while yelling. "I'll kill you for that! I'll kill you!"

But, unfortunately, it was not to last. The red and scarlet blur that was Kid Flash slammed into X at high speeds sending him skidding across the floor.

I looked over to Gar and our eyes met. What had previously been blind rage and desperation was now wild fury. Gar nodded at me and I knew, no matter what had been said and done, Gar wouldn't stand as his freinds needed help.

With my claw I released Gar and tripped Kid Flash sending him flying into the wall next to X.

Wonder girl stood up, beside Aqualad, and spit a small puddle of blood at my feet. "Traitors, I knew you stand behind the beast!"

"Beside." Gar corrected.

"We stand beside our own," Gar morphed into a panther and charged Aqualad while I launched everything in my reach at Wondergirl. "to the very end."

* * *

It was an uneasy alliance at the best. Gar and Raven fought back to back like nothing had changed.

But when Gar made a move to help X. There was a serious lack of trust. X didn't even meet Gar's eyes as he, being a lion, swatted Kid Flash away from X's temporarily crippled form.

And, yet, they stood together. One last time.

Gar hated this. When he first arrived he was set on getting out of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.. But recently, Gar realise he'd become distracted.

Even during his escape Gar couldn't turn away from his freinds. Right now, X needs his help.

Gar wasn't sure who this Robin character is, or why X is so defensive of him, but he knew Wondergirl was sure as hell not hurting his freinds.

However, In the back of Gar's mind there is a voice. It preaches of escape. It knows after this fight his freinds will surely turn on him. It knows at all times where the nearest jet is, and it knows the fastest way to get there.

Mabey Gar gave into this part of his brain, or maybe it was instinct. Whatever the motivation Gar stopped fighting.

Aqualad had just surrounded Gar with water connecting to his hands when it started. One transformation and the battle was over for Gar. Five Hundred volts from an electric eel sent Aqualad down fast.

Part of Gar was smirking and on his way to help Raven fight Wondgirl. But then there was another presence, almost foreign. It knew Raven would take him down right after Wondergirl. It knew Raven and X weren't really his freinds and that they would take him down right after the Titans.

This presence was angry at his so called friend that would undoubtedly stand against him. This presence was tired of the hellhole it was in and this presence was leaving one way or another.

It knew if Gar was going to survive this he had to leave his freinds. And so when Gar saw Kid Flash coming his way, he took the hit head on and got sent flying right into a Jet.

Gar's vision was blurry but he could make out Raven standing over Wondergirl's unconscious body and Kid Flash fall to the floor, feet bound together with a red X.

Gar closed the hatch and made his way over to the cockpit. Gar knew Raven could know where he was with her empathy, he had to move fast. Gar took one look back as the Jet dropped onto the hanger runway.

X had Wondergirl slung over his shoulder and was making a break for the exit. Raven was right at his heels, dragging Aqualad and Kid Flash behind her.

Raven made a quick glance as the emergency launch doors closed behind her. There was little to be told by her glance. Only disappointment and rejection were present in her gase.

Then the Jet dropped. Gar moved to buckle himself down as the jet picked up speed, but her tripped over a mysterious blue glowing bag.

Gar moved to inspect the bag as he settled himself in for the long journey ahead of him.

* * *

Raven had helped him escape. She had given him the tools to survive out there. And yet, it was still there. The feeling of betrayal resided in her heart. But Raven carried on.

All Titans, Raven and X included, were nigh incapacitated because of their many bruises, burns and scars. And yet, they were brought before him nonetheless.

In all the years Raven had been in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. she had never once laid eyes upon her leader. Nobody hidd a majority of himself in the shadows, only half his rust tinted mask was visible as he spoke roughly "You did well."

Raven was startled by the remark, but was unable to bring herself to speak before the overseer of N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

Luckily X managed to speak for both of them. "I'm sorry? You are talking about our failure to bring back Gar, right!?"

The man merely chuckled "Of course! You did all you could and even though your friend abandoned our cause you remain."

X raised an eyebrow. "Sure, but we also put your top four Titans in the medbay!"

"Top Titans!? They may be deluded enough to believe that, but X! Red-X I taught you better."

X lowered his head in shame as Raven looked at him. When had X trained with Nobody! and why did he keep this from her?

Nobody continued, "You acted rashly, yes. But they should have known better than to speak down of... your Brother."

X's sunken form managed to seclude even deeper in despair. Raven didn't know what to think at this point. X had always held the first Titan in high regards, but if the Titans was his brother! That put things in an entirely different perspective.

"The two of you have proven your loyalty and superiority above all other subjects in N.O.W.H.E.R.E." Nobody continued. "You shall be reworded for your service. Once the traitor is caught you shall both be brought under my wing as my apprentices, and one day successors."

This time X was speechless. He took one glance at me and I knew this was no proposition, this was an order.

I swallowed my fear and spoke. "Thank you for this honor, my commander."

"Please," The rust masked man replied, "call me Slade"

* * *

Basically this is 2/3rds complete and I'm left wondering if I should lengthen the plot or end this here and maybe come back to it for a sequel.

I'm not sure if I like this chapter, but it did what it had to do.

So, Robin's dead, Gar's gone, Raven's sad and Cyborg's #$%ed up.

Four Titans down.

One to go.


	7. Forgive and Regret

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.

* * *

The hospital was now in sight, but Gar and Raven were too entranced with each other's retelling of the day. They had been talking for almost an hour before Gar needed to rest. They spoke half an hour more on the cold cement roof they now sat upon.

Long after Raven had finished, but not too long after breaking her gaze Gar stated. "When I stopped fighting that day, I felt an exterior presence in my mind... was that you?"

Raven nodded from her seated position leaning against the side of the building.

"You messed with my head!" Gar exclaimed. "How dare you! I knew something was up! Every time I see you, even now, a little voice pops up in my head repeating everything you've ever done to hurt me. What the hell made you think that was a good idea!?"

"I knew you would stand by us till the end. If you did, you would die... for me that was unacceptable. I made you hate us, extorted your emotions until you no longer held an obligation to stay."

Gar tried his hardest to stay emotionally neutral, but he was not as experienced as Raven in the art. After Raven explained her reasoning, his cold hating expression broke.

"You gave me the bag too, didn't you?"

"Yes." Raven answered in a whisper.

Gar crossed his arms and glared at the cement roof they stood upon. "There wasn't a day that I didn't think about you. Sometimes I hated you for betraying me..."

Raven hugged her knees tighter to her chest at Gar's statement.

"...But sometimes..." Gar paused and composed himself, straightening his spine and meeting Raven's eyes. "I missed you. It didn't matter that you hunted me, hurt me, betrayed me... you make up a part of me and with that part gone... I was broken."

Raven closed her eyes as tears break emotional barriers. "I am so sorry-"

Raven didn't even have time to finish her sentence before Gar pulled her up off her frozen behind and into a hug.

Raven was too surprised to reciprocate the gesture. "Why?"

Gar's explanation was made up of one statement: "Thank you for saving me life."

Wasting little time Raven latched onto Gar, not daring to let go despite the searing pain from her injuries.

Raven had cried little times before Gar had blundered his way into her life, and many times since Gar had left. Now, though, she cried more than she had ever cried before.

For now her tears were not of woes, or angst. For the first time in her life, she cried out of happiness... and because being hugged in her condition really freaking hurt.

* * *

Raven put up a fuss about being carried the rest of the the way to the hospital, but considering that she couldn't move without immense pain she agreed to let Gar carry her on his back as a polar bear.

The ride was short and awkward, neither of them knew where the other stood on their relationship, or unfortunately the lack thereof.

Gar was feeling momentus resentment for his actions and feelings against Raven.

Raven, meanwhile, was torn between her obligation to N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and friendship with Gar. But there was something more with Gar, something that scared the living daylights out of Raven, yet made her heart leap with joy. She would be getting a headache is she hadn't slipping in and out of consciousness again.

* * *

*Still in present... just thought I'd let you know*

In N.O.W.H.E.R.E. there were no children, no heroes, no villains, just survivors. The weak died and the strong lived on, Red-X was no exception.

N.O.W.H.E.R.E. was specifically designed to stomp out innocence, freedom and weaknesses from its subjects, this X was an exception to.

Red-X had long before been stripped of his innocence and weaknesses, but he was a free man. There isn't another single subject of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. that could say the same.

But then again, X was not a subject of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. , not entirely. His training, his suit, and even most of his xenothium supply, that was all his employer's doing.

How X got into N.O.W.H.E.R.E. would seem impossible to the common human. N.O.W.H.E.R.E. is only interested in metas, aliens and freaks. Humans are extremely rare in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and are only used as security.

Signing up was difficult, five people died just in the waiting line. But Red-X got in, he climbed the ranks with ease and now he got what he came for, the Identity of Nobody, Slade Wilson the terminator.

X should have fled N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and sent the info to his employer long ago, but something changed during X's time in N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

X had always been a lone wolf, his only companion his skills and xenothium suit. But in Raven and Garfield, he found freinds.

And he was tired of trying to kill one. X was under enough pressure trying to mess up the capture missions for Gar without being exposed as a spy, but now with Raven gone X had run out of options.

He had to call in help from his employer.

Ditching his crew was easy enough. The 'Cyborg's' tech may be the most advanced in N.O.W.H.E.R.E., but even they didn't truly understand xenothium, tracing it was impossible. X might as well have been invisible to the man/machine.

As for the alien, she was still out cold from the fight. For some reason X had a hard time leaving her... but then he got over it.

Their last member was out looking for firewood and once gathering some supplied X took his bike and headed towards Gotham with one goal in mind: do whatever it takes to save his freinds.

* * *

The sight of a polar bear entering a hospital was...chaotic.

The scene basically looked like this

"Mommy, look a bear!"

"Don't be absurd, Juliean there isn't any... OH MY GOD!...why is it green?"

Then screams, more screams... more screams and finally an nigh empty room whom's only inhabitants were few unconscious trampled bodies and a polar bear with an unconscious girl on his back.

Gar now realised he should have thought this through.

"What is the commotion in here!?...Oh." For just walking into a room with a polar bear the man was fairly calm.

Gar wasted no time transforming back into his human form and setting Raven down on a chair. "Please, you've got to help her! She's hurt!"

The man moved briskly next to Raven and checked her over once. "Strange..."

Gar cringed at the remark. "What is it? Is she going to be okay, what-"

"Please," the man placed a hand on Gar's shoulder silencing the green teen. "give me space to work."

Gar hesitantly moved back as the man continued with his work.

After a few minutes, which may as well been eons for Gar, the man removed himself. "There seems to be no signs anything wrong with her, and yet her pulse is dangerously low. You'll have to help me carry her to a room, you've seem to scared everyone else off."

"Right," Gar picked up Raven carefully and followed closely behind the man. "thank you, doctor..."

"My name is Doctor Stone, Silas Stone."

* * *

Not dead.


	8. Death in the Morgue

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.

* * *

Gar had never liked hospitals. They smelled like death and hand sanitiser.

But Gar pushed through it, for Raven. Raven... Gar had dreamt of the day his freinds would return to him, but his dreams weren't ever anything like this.

Raven was dying, the doctor didn't say it but Gar could tell anyway. He didn't even get to say goodbye.

"Raven..."

"Young man?" Gar hadn't even notice Doctor Stone enter, and even as his voice was calm he still started Gar with his sudden appearance.

"Yes, Doctor?" Gar stood to face Doctor Stone.

"She's stable at the moment, but her entire body is slowly shutting down... at most she has two days." Gar wasn't sure what the news meant. Two days, that's more time than Gar thought, but at the same time his fears have been realised.

"Can... Can I see her." Gar asked.

"She's sleeping right now, as should you. The police were alerted but I told them you were holding me hostage and not to enter the 's crude but effective, this is the hospital the justice league uses so we have advanced defensive systems that should be able to keep the police occupied for over a week."

"If only we had that long..." Gar signed. "Do you know how to active the systems?"

"Activate them! please, kid, I build these systems myself! I could activate them with my eyes closed." Doctor Stone explained.

Gar raised an eyebrow "If you work with the league why are you helping us? Last I remembered I was still an outlaw."

"Ah, yes, the Lexcorp disaster. You sure did make a name for yourself, boy." Gar growled. "Ah, I see. Sore subject. It doesn't matter I won't harm you."

Gar approached the man "You didn't answer my question, why are you helping us?"

"I... don't see why that matters-"

Gar hoisted Doctor Stone by his collar a said one final time. "Why are you helping us!"

"I thought my son would be with you!" Doctor Stone exclaimed.

Gar dropped a frightened Doctor Stone and kneeled so they were at eye level. "Your son?"

"Victor Stone, The Cyborg." The Doctor admitted. "I heard he would be with your friend."

Gar's glare intensified as he asked. "How exactly do you know about the ongoings of an organisation that even the president can't track?"

"You already know the answer, Beast." The Doctor said.

Gar knew he recognised the man's sent, he was the same doctor who operated on Gar in N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

"You bastard!" Gar punched the Doctor, sending him skidding across the floor. "Don't you dare call me that, not again. I'm not a beast... not a beast... not...beast."

* * *

Two years ago.

"Wha- Where am I? What's going on?" Gar spoke in a panicked tone as he looked around him, there was nothing but darkness.

Gar could hear an intercom switch on "Please, boy. Remain calm and this will all be over soon enough."

"Like Hell!" Gar spat. "You abducted me! Who are you?"

"Well, my little Beast, I am known around here as Fixit but to you I am the only thing keeping you alive while we pull apart every gene in your body and test the crap out of it until we're satisfied. Is that alright with you, beast?"

"I'm not a Beast!" Gar shouted.

There was a huff "Really, you don't truly understand how your powers work, do you? You do not simply change your shape into an animal, you become the animal you are an animal, a Beast Boy at best."

"You're wrong." Gar spat in a near whisper. "I'm a man, you hear me!? A man! I am Garfield Logan and I'm a man..."

* * *

"I'm a man... I'm a man... I'm a man..." Gar became conscious but couldn't help but repeating the phrase.

"Are you quite done?" The good doctor's voice came from behind Gar, but not even he couldn't see in the dark, yet his nose could tell gar all he needed to know, he was in the morgue.

"I beat you." Gar stated. "We've done this already, every torchure method, every cell extraction. Is that what this is about? You had two years to break me and you failed so now you're out for revenge?"

"No. Not revenge... retribution." Gar wasn't expecting that response.

Moments past but Gar found himself not knowing what to say. He knew he was lying shitleess against a cold metal table, unrestrained but unable to move.

"You know I put a keyword in your head just for this day. It took me month to smuggle the tech in but it was worth it. Wasn't it, beast" Gar felt lightheaded at the word, almost like he was going to pass out again. ". I've waited so long for this day... so long. And now it's finally here."

"Come on, man you spent years poking at my genes, haven't you had enough yet?" Gar managed to ask despite his retreating consciousness.

"You've met my son, correct?" Gar shivered at the memory of the mutilated man that was Victor Stone. "His... accident was my doing I did my best to repair him, but... well you know what it brought."

Gar's eyes widened. "You did that to your own son!"

"I had no choice!" Fixit/Doctor Stone exclaimed "I saved my boys life, and now you'll repair his mind."

"Me!?" Gar didn't like where this was going.

"Remember what I said all those years ago, you do not simply take on the shape of an animal when you change, you become the animal gaining all it's survival instincts, abilities, and even personas." The Doctor explained.

"That's not actually what you said-"

"SHUT UP I'M PARAPHRASING!" The Doctor shouted at Gar. "My point is that whenever you change into an animal your personality changes with it and then back again when you revert to human. In N.O.W.H.E.R.E. they only wanted me to conduct experiments that would keep you alive and harness your physical powers. But we're not in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. anymore, are we?"

Gar heard the sound of an electric saw being activated and gulped.

"No. We're not. Which means you're without guards." There was a gasp before a gunshot and a thud as a body hit the floor.

"...Raven... is that you." Gar nervously whispered.

The reply was far more robotic and gravely than Gar expected. "Not quite."

* * *

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while, I'm just not good at taking the initiative to start things.

I'll try to update more often hopefully once a week starting next monday

Leave reviews and all that, see you next week... maybe


	9. Psychopaths, One and All

Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.

* * *

Gar still couldn't move, but the previously pitch black room was now slightly illuminated blue. Not good.

"Hey there, Green. Long time no see." Gar would have growled but he wasn't sure if he could in his condition. "We were sent here to find our dear friend Raven, but look at what we have here. YOU! On a silver platter. IT. MUST. BE. CHRISTMAS."

The man's, for Gar knew it was a man, tone was erratic, he spoke sometimes slowly drawing out each syllable. Then he would ramble like a demon-child who had just killed it's first prey.

Then he said Raven's name, the name that brought incalculable happiness to Gar. This man twisted the name driving it like a spike into Gar's core and Gar knew this man had to die.

"Step aside, magic boy, I'm ending this now." The voice was definitely female and though it appeared sassy and flirtatious there was no doubt that if this girl wanted you dead you wouldn't simply die, you would watch everyone you love die slowly and then, after your mind has left your body out of sheer emotional pain, she kills you.

"Don't touch him! Our orders were to bring him in alive!" Gar should be reassured by this comment, but the voice brings up bad memories. The Cyborg, Gar best and worst friend from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. here to simultaneously save and kick his ass.

Gar was not pleased.

"Oh, come on, clank. The bastard is out like a light anyway! We've wasted two years looking for him, two looooong years! And YOU WANT US TO BRING HIM IN ALIVE!" At this point Gar was actually hoping he was left alone with his insane Cyborg friend/nemesis.

But Gar had to admit, Cy's his response is perfect in the situation blunt and emotionless, the only way to get through to the bastard he was facing. "We are bringing him in alive."

"Spoilsport." The girl whines.

"All right then, clanker. How do we wake him up?"

* * *

"You again?" X did not know what to expect from Blank Mask, but this was not what X planned.

Each member took one look at X and then it went to hell.

"You." A smile.  
"Crudmunchin'" A glare.  
"Bastard." And then he charged.

Well that escalated quickly.

X did several cartwheels to the right to dodge the man/beast that was charging at him.

X laughed as his attacker missed him and charged headfirst into a wall. "Hey, Mammoth! I'm over here, big guy."

"Don't worry, runt! You'll get what's coming to you!" Mammoth yelled at X from the other side of the room.

"You know me, Mammoth. I'm not scared of you." X said, creating two explosive Xs and preparing to fight back against Mammoth who was once again preparing to charge

"He's not the one you should be worried about, barf brain!"X had no time to react before he was hit.

A laser pistol, hard to come by on the black market, but X was sure the Boy genius that was gizmo had made his from scratch, after all, store brand didn't hurt this much.

X clenched his ribs in pain, but in doing so dropped his Xs and the following explosion sent the mercenary flying. "I had forgot how good these guys are..."

"Oh, we're not all bad." gentle hands hoisted X off the ground.

X was dazed from the explosions. His eyes glossed over and his ears ringing. The only thing he could interpret was pink figure and then his mask was raised over his lips and he was being kissed.

"Mmfferg" X recompiled himself and pushed the figure away from him "Jinx."

"Hey, X." She smiled and through her arm out sending X flying away with her pink energies.

X crashed headfirst into the wall and again everything was blurry, but he could hear the conversation.

"Did you really have to kiss the butmuncher?"  
"Do you really have to call him that, I just kissed him!"  
"Why is he here anyway?"

X would have been surprised that Mammoth of all people would be the first to analyze the situation. But X was far too angry.

X took the opportunity to throw Xs at the lights descending the room into darkness.

"What the hell?" was all someone managed before X blotted out all noise and got into his mindset.

Scurrying up a wall and climbing onto rafters gave X an immediate advantage.

Gizmo was the first to adapt. "I've to infrared running."

X knew the three of them well and took time to analyze his former foes closely.

there was no last time X had seen gizmo, the kid hid behind his robots. In person Gizmo was short, even for a kid. He was bald and wore a simple black and green jumpsuit with green goggles over his eyes scanning the room for X and a grey steel backpack that X had swore he saw move.

The sight of this boy should have caused X to fall off the raptures laughing, but X knew better, he still had scars from his fight with Gizmo's mecha the last time they fought and even now a confused young boy shot X, one of the best trained mercenaries in the world.

He was no joke.

Then there was the powerhouse of the group, Mammoth. The bruiser was dumb as an ape, as strong as a bear and harry as... well a mammoth. easily five times the size of Gizmo, similarly dressed with the sleeves torn off his shirt and a gold vest making Mammoth one classy killer. Red hair messily hiding his face behind a thick beard and long groomed hair . Despite his messy looks even X would be more eager to fight an actual mammoth than the one and only mammoth.

Finally there was Jinx. The girl should be X's type, but there was something off about her. Sure for one she had tried to kill him multiple times, but there was more... X keeps telling himself that it's just his inner masculinity that hates being showed up, but there's a nagging feeling in his head that there's more to it.

Despite his feelings there was no doubt Jinx was attractive, well at least in X's eyes. Jinx would be like every other punk girl with a nose ring and outlandish clothing if not for her extremely pale skin and pink hair.

They were a nigh unstoppable team. X had made the mistake of going easy on them before, it would not happen again.

* * *

Raven had dreamt her father had awoken from his prison and used her to control the world. The fact that when she woke up to Gar's screams and wished that it was just trigon should be enough of an explanation of how terrified she was.

The hospital was empty and there were police yelling outside that they were sending a swat team in.

Raven didn't care, she just had to find Gar.

Stumbling out of her hospital bed Raven found herself to be heavily sedated. She managed to get out of her room without falling down, the cold floor made it no easier.

Raven had no idea where her boots were but she missed them dearly, along with her cape. all she now had was a hospital gown over her leotard.

The elevators were out so Raven had to take the stairs, she carefully flew down between the two staircases until she felt three distinct personalities, and one faint one.

The first was clouded, a mess, thinking five different things simultaneously that changed every five seconds. frantic and discombobulated, but distinctly angry, Raven recognised the mind instantly and shuddered. Why did he have to be here.

The next two were extremely mutilated, the first made Raven feel violated to just enter the mind. The only two thoughts were about killing, sex and combinations of the two. Raven recognised the mind, she had shared a tent with her more times than she wished and although Blackfire never made a play on her, the girl's thoughts kept Raven up for hours.

The other mind was both scared and angry, happy and sad. Two opposites living in one mind, not a common case, easily identifiable, Victor.

Then behind the three dominant personalities was one small one. It was muffled but clearly scarred.

That would be Gar, barely conscious and surrounded by psychopathic killers, great.

* * *

I realize I haven't been updating this nearly enough, I apologize.

I've begun work on a graphic novel, of my own fiction, and It's taking up a lot of time.

Thanks for the continued support, not sure if I deserve it.

Next chapter: Running


	10. Running in the Dark

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans cartoon, comics or any copyrighted material I reference, they all belong to their respected companies.**

* * *

If you go out on the streets today  
You're sure of a big surprise.  
If you go out in the streets today  
You'd better go in disguise.

For every crook that ever there was  
Will gather there for certain, because  
The Bat's away and the rats can play in Gotham

* * *

X had fought many a metas. Didn't matter if you flew, could push through a brick wall, or shoot lightning out your backside backside. X beat you for one reason, he was trained to.

From the day he was born to the day he dies X will hunt metas, It's who he is. Never had he failed a mission, his record was flawless. Until that one mission.

Shanghai, China.

Simple mission. A slaver was in town for business, an auction.

One of the girls was a meta. Get her out, avoid getting killed.

Unfortunately another party was at play.

The team was quick, silent and effective.

Gizmo hacked into their systems faster than I could get there.

Mammoth had his fun and Jinx had her distraction. I found both of the girls in a cell. They'd had been trapped.

I thought I'd play the hero, save the girls stop the bad guys. The guards were no problem, but their boss was another story.

A meta, strong one too. the guy called himself Cinderblock. I thought it was a joke until I took the first hit.

The fight took hours, by the time Cinderblock was down I was almost out of energy and the girls were gone.

Jinx had planned the whole thing, I was just another distraction.

I hunted them, from Shanghai to Tokyo and back to the States. I even fought them too, my only reward was a kiss and too many bruises to count.

But a month after we returned to the states they dropped off the girl. My mission was officially a failure and I was called back to N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

Slade was angry, but I survived his wrath. By the end of the month Gar, Raven and I had caught twice enough Metas to repay my failure.

But my pride was never reconstituted.

All that separates mercenaries from thugs is pride, and mine has been shattered for a while. Now it's time for payback.

They're in the dark, I do my best work there.  
They're confused, disoriented. I make my move.

I tag Mammoth with a X. Small thing N.O.W.H.E.R.E. wipped up. Doesn't hurt the bruser, leaves him without a scratch. Instead it releases a shrill whistling.

My suit shuts off sound, they're not so lucky.

The sound isn't powerful enough to cause permanent damage to their hearing, but Jinx and Gizmo retreat away from the sound, that's enough for me.

Mammoth is on the ground, hands over his ears, desperately trying the escape the sound. It's almost too easy. A X over Mammoth's mouth and he can't call for help.

A Static X to the back, Mammoth's almost out, but he's a big man, needs more. Unfortunately that was my last one, so I improvise.

Goo-X's. Another one of my favourite, leaves the subject completely incapacitated, I hang him from the rafters and smash the sonic transmitter. He's out and now they can't find him.

I restore sound, the others are panicking.

"Mammoth! Where are you! Useless bastard!" Jinx likes to swear when she's losing. It's a good sign.

"Show yourself, barfbrain!" Gizmo's slightly more composed, scanning the area with his tech. He needs to be shut down.

He's far enough from Jinx to shut down.

First an emp X on his back. Gear shorts out.

He panics, Jinx tries to hit me. For a wild shot it's close. The wall next to me crumbles, moonlight creeps into my darkness. I need to hurry.

I've got no X's left, so I have to do this hand to hand. It'll be twice as painful, but no matter, the little %&$#er's been annoying as hell.

I go high, climb back onto the rafters. Jinx moves towards the light, tries to take advantage of the new element. But she's left gizmo behind, struggling to reboot his tech.

I move. Dive from the rafters, smash his tech along with most of him fingers.

I smirk "Oops."

I drop kick the kid, he's out cold.

Mammoth is suspended from the ceiling, Gizmo's catching z's on the floor. I must be dreaming.

That leaves Jinx... behind me. Danm.

I move, but she's faster.

I don't know what her energy is but it stings. Propels me into a steel rafter, I use it to stand. Before I can move she's on top of me. She lifts me by the neck.

"The only one who beats up my team, is me." Her eyes glow, I've got little chance of surviving a blast this close.

"Sorry, Jinx. It's just business." I press my glove against her stomach, Suit primes for a shock.

Final standoff, just like my dreams. Someone pinch me.

* * *

"All, units! Prepare to storm the hospital. Targets are unarmed but highly dangerous!"

Star city's finest. preparing to storm S.T.A.R. hospital. Some would call it irony, but actually just everything is named Star here.

Even the hero. Red Star. New kid, youngest recruit for the Justice League ever. Shouldn't be on duty, but they're low on members.

The Feds love him. A perfect soldier turned hero. That's the official story, anyway.

The locals, they like him less. After the events of WWIII the government promised perfect heros. No more gritty masked heroes.

That meant out with the old in with the new. Those who refused to work with the feds were no longer welcome. Old heroes were either unmasked or put down.

The defender of Star city liked his mask. He was no exception to this rule.

Now the city has a new unmasked hero. No one knows who he is. The people who say to trust him are murderers and thugs. And if you even mention the word: Radioactive, around the man, you'll be put down just like the fallen heroes.

He knows this. He has tried to earn their trust. But you can't replace a Hero. Not in peoples hearts.

He knows this, but he fights anyway. He will fight today for them. And the next day, and the next day until he is the Hero of Star City.

He is Red Star. And today he leads Star City's finest into battle with an unknown enemy.  
He is Red Star. And he will fight.

"Comrades, in this building there are villains. These villains seek to empower themselves with our fear. These villains will not succeed. For you have families to return to tomorrow. You will come home to your children's faces and tell them you faced these villains and felt no fear, because you fought for your family, your city and your country.

Some say these villains are metahumans. Beyond human. HA! They are no more superior to you than a pigeon is to an eagle. For we are many and they are few. Together we will face these villains without fear, and come home to our children as heroes!"

There is no applause. There never is. He smiles, one day there will be.

"Take the building, leave none alive."

* * *

Gar has one rule. Try to have fun.

Most would deem this reclas, but he deems it wise.

His past has conditioned him to act as he should.  
His past has taught him who to trust and who to fight  
His past has taught him how to live, how to survive.  
And his rule conditions him to live his life to the fullest.

But Gar isn't very good at following rules.

In N.O.W.H.E.R.E. he was the clown, first to joke, first to laugh, first to simple. But he was always the last to truly feel happiness. Only once in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. had he truly smiled, and that was when he made her smile.

She was the only thing that got him through N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

He now knows he owes Raven his life. But there was a time not long ago where Gar was hunted by Raven and her followers.

And now, so soon after he's found Raven, they found him again.

He was on the run for over a year, and now he has to start running again.

But he's trapped.  
He can't run.  
The beast in his mind sturs.  
And it dreams of his last run.

* * *

*One year ago*

One day after the escape Gar's transportation ran out of fuel. He didn't know where he was, but it was hot in the day, freezing in the night and full of sand. Even Gar didn't understand how the animals who called this place home survived there. He warily ate supplies from the mysterious bag he had found in his jet and fell fast asleep in the useless shell of his jet.

Two days the after escape Gar studied the animals and learned from them. He managed to eat a cactus, after studying a Javalina. That night he studied the stars and made a heading, he followed the North star knowing he had flown from the south.

Three days after the escape Gar found a highway. Gar followed the highway hoping to find a city to disappear in, but avoided all cars. After his first attempt, of which involved screaming and pepper spray Gar made sure to keep clear cars.

Gar was beginning to grow weary of surviving on his own with nothing but the cloths on his back and his backpack. Sure, Gar's backpack helped him store supplies he found, but it's contents were otherwise useless in his situation

All it held was a small blue glowing card, a freaky looking blue gun, Blue goggles, a grey Kobo that also glowed blue circuitry and a blue ball, yet again glowing.

WIth all the glowing blue there was only one person who could have made this in N.O.W.H.E.R.E.: Victor.

Gar was uncertain about Victor. Half of the time Victor was his best friend outside the Titans.

They would set traps for the more annoying N.O.W.H.E.R.E. subjects, putting buckets of water over doors, taking out the planks supporting bed bunks, electrifying the steel benches. Their foul play often got them in fights with subjects and staff alike, but they enjoyed it. When the played their jokes they felt normal. Even if it was for just a moment they still cherished it.

But other times... Victor would get mad easy. They used to spar for fun, but when he was mad, the fight was real.

Gar hated this Victor. This Victor considered jokes immature. This Victor only cared about getting the job done, no matter how immoral the job was. This was not Victor, this was Cyborg and he was Gar's arch enemy in N.O.W.H.E.R.E.

Towards the end of his days in N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Victor was himself less and less and Cyborg more and more. But it seemed like Victor pulled through one last time and gave Gar tools for survival.

Unfortunately these survival tools were not outfitted for the desert, the tools were all too complex for Gar to understand or useless in his situation. All gar had were his wits and his powers and on the third day his powers payed off, he found an oasis.

It wasn't too far off the highway, but far enough that no one would disturb him. At first Gar thought he was going insane, but then he smelled it, and it smelled good. That night he ate well and slept like a rock. He dreamt of making a life in this oasis, and of gutting his former friends... but mostly of the oasis.

Four days after the escape, Gar awoke to find the ground he fell asleep on was different. No human would notice it, but Gar was a meta. Gar had every sense of every animal working with him and he knew, he felt the tremors, if ever so subtle.

Deep down, the earth had moved. He was not the only one to find the oasis.

* * *

**I was looking back at my first chapter and realized I originally only wanted this to be three chapters.**

**Ha! That didn't work out.**

**Anyway, that got me thinking, I want to know if you guys are liking this story.**

**Do you like the direction it's been taken?**

**Does the universe and story I've created still interest you?**

**Do you like the characters?**

**In case you haven't noticed I've been making half the story up as I go along so some feedback would be awesome!**

**Next chapter: Terra**


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